Nash Noms: Little Octopus

Little Octopus

505 12th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203

Food
★★★
Decor
★★★★
Service
★★★
Value
★★

From the moment you walk in the door, you’re enveloped in a warm atmosphere with a romantic ambience. The space itself is rather bare and warehouse-like, but there are flickering candles everywhere that make it feel cozier. Truth be told, I may go back just for the open bar area alone, which features a gorgeous pink couch and coordinating rose marble tables that are très chic and obviously Instagrammable.

However, you’ll quickly find that the decor and ambiance are just about the most that Little Octopus has to offer. I’m usually a big fan of farm-to-table restaurants and I love dining tapas-style (consequence of my fear of commitment?), but Little Octopus simply missed the mark on this one.

I began with the sweet potato tamale (pictured above), which was topped with roasted poblano and cotija. It arrived wrapped in corn husks, giving me the inflated hope that this might be a successful fusion dish. However, the flavor of the sweet potato got lost in the the rest of the ingredients, leaving me with the sour aftertaste of disappointment and ten dollars wasted.

Then, I had the shrimp (pictured above), which was paired with charred lime, spicy pepper salsa, and herb emulsion. It looked and smelled extremely promising, but at first bite, it was clear that the line cooks of Little Octopus did not know how to properly prepare blackened shrimp. Charred to a crisp, the shrimp was so tough and dry that it clung to the shell; hard as I tried to get the entire piece out of its shell, I lost most battles and had to settle for whatever my fork could extract.

The thing is, the shrimp already came in thin, measly halves. I think I counted a total of 10 of these pieces so like, 5 total pieces of non-jumbo, non-thicc shrimp for SEVENTEEN dollars?! The taste was nothing special either. It was definitely spicy, but the kind of spice that’s more heat than flavor. I felt like I could’ve replicated this dish at home, and maybe even better.

I will say, though, that the chocolate pots de creme (pictured above) left me in a very good mood. Though the waitress described this dessert as ‘kind of a gelato-like texture,’ I’ll forgive her because she apparently hasn’t had gelato before. The pots de creme was more like mousse, but it doesn’t even matter because it was deliiiish. With a ginger glaze and pistachios on top that provided the perfect contrast to the richness of the chocolate, this made me feel like my night wasn’t entirely wasted at Little Octopus. Seriously, how is the rating on Open Table this good?? Have Nashvillians become so accustomed to a diet of merely hot chicken and barbecue and grits, that anything else, as mediocre as it might really be, automatically blows their minds? LMK.

Overall?

I would say definitely pass for dinner (it’s just not good enough to be this expensive), but maybe try going for drinks at the bar. And order dessert!!

Have you been here, and did I just order the wrong dishes? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!